


Nature vs Nurture

by Corpyburd



Category: Ripper Street, Victorian police
Genre: Conversations, Galton, M/M, Philosophy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 05:06:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11548080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corpyburd/pseuds/Corpyburd
Summary: Edmund Reid has been reading Galton's Nature vs Nurture. Now he wants to use it to have the measure of his colleagues.





	Nature vs Nurture

As Edmund Reid sat in one of the booths in the Brown Bear, leafing through his new book - Francis Galton’s - English Men Of Sciences: Their Nature And Nurture - the barman brought over his supper that he had ordered and placed it on the table beside his drink. 

“Can I get you anything else Inspector?” the barman added quietly but Edmund politely shook his head, paid for his supper and tipped him a shilling.

As the barman left, the pub doors suddenly opened. Bennet Drake and Captain Jackson walked through and headed towards Reid, who was now eating his supper. 

Reid gestured to his 2 colleagues to sit down beside him and asked the barman for a round of drinks. Jackson caught the bar man’s eye and asked for it to be changed to a bottle of Scotch instead.

The new book was playing heavily on Reid’s mind. Pushing his now empty plate aside and looking at his colleagues he thought that Jackson displayed a happy and easy-going expression; yet Drake wore a defeated, surly grimace. Their outward appearance was clearly apparent in their personality. 

After their drinks Drake made an excuse and left; he had to catch up with his Rose and somethings he muttered. It had been a long, hard, day at Leman Street.

Edmund commented to Jackson about Drake’s considerably contrasting personality. “It’s funny how everyone’s character is apparent in their appearance.“

Jackson lit up a cigarette, took a deep drag and exhaled the smoke into the air, watching it disappear in the cloud of smoke above their booth.

“Jeez Ed, what’s this your reading?” as he picked up Galton’s book beside Reid’s police notebook. “Galton’s Nature and Nurture - that’s just gonna give you indigestion and nightmares!”

“Wouldn’t you argue that it’s actually society that has caused Ben’s outlook,” Reid replied. “He’s always had a surly expression and people have always treated him as a negative person. 

“Where as you have always looked happy and people have always treated you as a joyful soul.”

Jackson shot Ed a quizzical look. “So now your a psychologist as well as a policeman, Ed?” pouring out the Scotch, swirling the whisky in his glass. 

He intended to make a virtue of it, savour it, not race to the bottom of the bottle. It was obvious that Reid was in one of his reflective moods and also knew that he would get a frosty reception at home, so, he decided to settle in his chair. 

When the liquid settled he brought it to his dry lips and let the amber fluid sit in his mouth a while before swallowing. He closed his eyes, dwelling only on the flavour. God it was good. Then he took another deep drag of his cigarette.

Jackson took another slow swallow of the Scotch and was now beginning to feel its glowing effect. “So what you driving at Ed?”

“Jackson, let’s suggest that “nature”, all by itself, plays no part whatever in developing a person’s characteristics.  Nature doesn’t have exclusive access to the individual at any point.”

“That merely “nature”, all by itself, plays no part whatever in developing a person’s characteristics.  Nature doesn’t have exclusive access to the individual at any point.”

“Nurture”, all by itself, plays no part whatever in developing a person’s characteristics. No one can nurture another person without a consideration of how that person has been affected by environment, heredity and so on.”

“What it does create then Jackson, is a third thing. That third thing is a prior, complex interaction  between “nature” and “nurture”. It is this interaction which drives the development of the characteristics. 

“I don’t mean nature and nurture together—that’s two things. I mean this interaction.“ Reid went on excitedly.

“So, it’s not nature and nurture working together in some sort of a team.” added Jackson. “It isn’t nature plus nurture.  It’s nature times nurture?”

Reid stared at Jackson in astonishment. 

He had assumed that when the Captain had sat down at the start of his conversation, he wasn’t really listening to him, and it was his own want to talk through his thoughts on Galton’s book out loud that drove this outpouring.

Jackson took the whisky bottle and refilled his colleague’s glass with the golden liquid then his own. 

“Don’t you think this is something that I might have opinions on?“ he replied as he looked into the bottom of his glass “Being a man of medicine? Having seen the best and worst of men in war?”

Jackson took another deep drag of of the old wood smoke cigarette and chased it with some Scotch.

He looked up and gave Reid a large toothy grin and scratched his jaw.

“Aren’t we a pair, Reid? Jackson laughed, leaning back in his chair and blowing another cloud of smoke into the air. “Like a couple of old Greek philosophers trying to fathom out the human race." 

"And it looks like we came in last!“


End file.
